Hidden In Plain Sight: Historical Pics Appear In Wash Heights

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — You may or may not have noticed them around the neighborhood, but signs with vintage photos of Inwood and Washington Heights have appeared throughout the Upper Manhattan streets.

Washington Heights resident and historian Barry S. has posted captivating, old photographs of the two neighborhoods from West 170th Street to the very tip of Manhattan.

The photos are stuck to mailboxes, parking signs, traffic-light poles, and other mundane components of the city environment.

The pictures include Washington Heights' businesses long-shuttered, the old castles of Inwood, and trolleys that ran through both neighborhoods.

Barry had thought about posting the pictures around the neighborhood for years, but it was the downtime during the coronavirus pandemic that gave him the window to get to work.

"For me, COVID-19 was a cloud with a silver lining," Barry told the website Untappedcities. "With all that spare time, I finally put my idea into motion, printed them out, and posted them."

The local historian found the photos from various archives, including from the museum of the City of New York, the Works Progress Administration's 1940 NYC Site, and Facebook, according to Untappedcities.com.

In the beginning of September, the New York Adventure Club hosted a virtual journey back through some of Upper Manhattan's most famous old estates from the Gilded Era.

You can check out what the pictures look like and more about Barry S. on Untapped New York's website.